Pointless, costly, ineffective
The spasms of a dying Leviathan
The US State Department representative said that Moscow might be sanctioned for its cooperation with Damascus.
It should be recalled that the Russian operation in Syria is held in agreement with the constitutional government and has not violated international norms, unlike the US occupation and its "allies" from ISIS.
The US's statement on Russia's supposed wrongdoing came after it was proven that the US military cooperated with ISIS and "Jabhat al-Nusra", which are recognized terrorist groups, and that Washington was involved in the attack on the UN humanitarian convoy.
At the same time, all Western accusations against Russia crumble like a house of cards, and Washington understands that there is nothing with which to reproach Moscow from the point of view of international law. Therefore, provocations are becoming clearer and rhetoric harsher.
Contradictory statements
However, the day before, US Vice President Joe Biden frightened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko with the possibility of sanctions against Russia being lifted. Biden said that "we will witness the gradual removal of sanctions against Russia" if Ukraine does not accomplish the further steps for de-sovereigntization.
Removing sanctions
However, the US has quietly, without advertising, already removed part of the anti-Russian sanctions. The company "Rosoboronexport" was excluded from the banning list which, following the "peace-loving" logic of Washington, should have been, on the contrary, tightened.
Special Representative of the President of Russia on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, explained that, without removing this part of the sanctions, the US would not be able to continue operations in Afghanistan, as the repair and maintenance of helicopters would become impossible. Thus, the US has removed those sanctions which do not benefit it while forcing Europe to renew others and bring themselves to the brink of economic collapse.
Despite the US's unfriendly rhetoric, according to Kabulov, "there was no problem lifting the sanctions against "Rosoboronexport" in respect to the delivery and maintenance of our helicopters deployed in Afghanistan. They drove themselves into a dead end and had to take back some of the sanctions."
However, the Ukrainian crisis, over which sanctions were imposed, has not been mentioned this time.
Europe not asked again
The representative of the State Department who announced plans to toughen sanctions added that "sanctions have proven to be a good way to promote our interests in the world, but we never impose sanctions unilaterally." He added that Washington has always provoked its satellites to also impose sanctions, and that this would be the case once again.
Meanwhile, Europe has long since been talking about the back-breaking burden of sanctions. Even Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas, known for his Russophobic views, acknowledged that "these sanctions are even more costly for Estonia because it is geographically located very close to the Russian market. At present, the existing ban on the delivery of our fine products creates great difficulties for Estonian farmers."
The lifting of sanctions in France has become the nucleus of the election campaigns of several presidential candidates, which speaks to the French people's attitude towards the sanctions.
The vast majority of EU member states are in favor of ending the sanctions policy. However, the informal leader of the European Union and loyal servant of the White House, Angela Merkel, does not take note of this.
Russia's reaction
An official position of Russian authorities on the US State Department's recent statements is not known. However, shortly before, Agricultural Minister Alexander Tkachev half-jokingly called on the West to renew sanctions for another 5 years. He said that Russian production has become much more competitive during the sanctions. Besides, according to him, Russia already has guaranteed food supplies for years to come.
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